updated 10:29 am EDT, Fri September 20, 2013

Gold sells out in 28 minutes

US shipping times for the iPhone 5s have grown to between 7-10 business days in less than half a day of the device being on sale, a check of Apple's online store shows. Delays are still longer for gold-colored models, which are now only listed as shipping in October. Reports indicate that the latter delay took effect just 28 minutes after the 5s went on sale.

The 5s is believed to be in extremely short supply. Apple completely skipped pre-orders for the device, and at least one vendor, the UK branch of O2, is carrying no units at all in its stores, only accepting orders for later delivery. What units are available worldwide are thought to be mostly "space gray" models, with white/silver being rare, and gold even scarcer.